Scope of the Game:

• Civilization: Polynesia
• Difficulty: SID
• World size: Huge
• Landmass: Archipelago
• Geology: 80% Ocean, 3 Billion years
• Environment: Wet, Warm
• Barbarians: Raging
• Rivals: 15 pre-selected
• Respawn: OFF
• Scientific Great Leaders: OFF
• Mobilisation: ON
• AI Agression: Normal
• Submissions due by January 15th, 2007. PLEASE NOTE THE DATE. Because of the game settings this COTM will have 6 weeks of play.

ALL SPOILERS PROHIBITED: Do not post any messages or questions about this game in any forum until after about December 5, 2007. Please do not discuss any aspect of this game prior to that date, when official spoiler thread will be opened for discussions. NEVER DISCUSS AN ACTIVE CONTEST IN ANY THREAD OTHER THAN THE CORRECT SPOILER THREADS!

Special Notes for COTM42

Lots of mods that affect general gameplay were made for this COTM. Some were designed to create the Polynesian civ; others to make the game more playable. Here is a list of these changes:

Polynesian Navigation Ability - The Polynesians were skilled at traversing long distances across ocean to spread their culture. To mimic this ability the following ship class were created; these ships do not sink in Sea or Ocean, are available only to the Polynesians and have the same stats as the ships they replace.

• Outrigger Canoe: Available with Alphabet, replaces the Curragh
• Polynesian Catamaran: Available with Map Making, replaces the Galley
• Migration Canoe: Available with Astronomy, replaces the Caravel

Polynesian Overseas Trading - In general the Polynesians would found isolate island communities with little commerce outside the local island group. To give the player the ability to tie together widely spaced trading groups (if desired) a special technology called Polynesian Trade is created. It allows trade over Sea and over Ocean spaces, and is an optional Ancient Age tech that requires Map-Making.

Polynesian Unique Units - A special pair of UU's were created for the Polynesian civ. One appears in the middle to late Ancient Age, the other in the early Middle Age.

• Polynesian Raider: Available with Polynesian Trade, it's stats are 2-2-1, it gets a defensive shot, it costs 30 shields, and is an upgrade from the Archer. It has Amphibious capability, it can enslave (creating a Worker) and it will start a Golden Age. It upgrades to the Polynesian Marine. The Enkidu Warrior graphics are used to represent the Polynesian Raider.
• Polynesian Marine: Available with Feudalism, it's stats are 4-2-1, it costs 50 shields, and is an upgrade from the Polynesian Raider. It has Amphibious capability, it can enslave (creating a Worker) and it will start a Golden Age. It upgrades to a Guerilla. The graphics for the Berzerk Unit are used to represent the Polynesian Marine.

Polynesia Civ - Polynesia is actually a modified Scandinavia. I have updated the Leader, City and Military Leader names to be Polynesian, changed the traits to be Sea-Fairing and Agricultural, and the Leader Head has been changed from Ragnor to Pachacuti (who looks a LOT more Polynesian IMO). The Berzerk was moved to Feudalism, and modified to become the Polynesian Marine. There may be other Scandinavian 'stuff' that shows up, but that shouldn't affect game play.

Polynesian Minor Civs - I've added a few Polynesian Minor Civs to the game to give it more flavor; these civs are minor because they can't build any more Settlers and can only found cities based on their starting Settlers. These are based on related civs or polynesian folklore. They are modified 'ancient' civs; I've changed the Leader, and City names, but the LeaderHead and Military Leader Names are still the original civ, so don't be too surprised.

European Civs - Europe had a tremendous effect on polynesia. There are some European civs in the game. They get a special ship class called the European Privateer. It is available with Feudalism, has the same stats as the Privateer, it's Nationality is exposed, it doesn't sink in Sea or Ocean and it can enslave, generating another European Privateer. Once the European civs gain Feudalism, they will likely gain most contacts as well. Other mods - several civs are not able to build Galleys; this is to keep them on their starting landmass initially and to help protect nearby minor civs that might otherwise get run over. And 2 of the European civs start the game at war with each other.

Great Lighthouse - Has been moved to Navigation. The desire is to let the AI make contact with a few local civs (at most) and let the player make wide ranging contacts. GLH might change that around a bit, so it is effectively removed from play.

As always, have fun playing the COTM and we hope you join us in the postgame discussions!

You will have your choice of Playing COTM 43 in one of three skill levels that most closely matches your current abilities - Conquest Class, Open Class, or Predator Class.

Conquest-Class Game Details for Conquest 43

Players who choose to play in the Conquest class game will receive a set of bonuses designed to help them focus on key early strategic decisions that may help them to get more enjoyment out of the specific conditions of this game. The bonuses ARE NOT designed to guarantee you a win without requiring some good early decisions to be made and without asking you to manage your Civilization properly.

Players who might be interested in playing the conquest class game could be those players who might only feel comfortable playing at Warlord or Regent difficulty.

For the purposes of global ranking and comparison to all other GOTM scores, the Conquest class games scores in the QSC and GOTM results will be weighted downward with an 85% multilpier to factor out the value of the additional starting bonuses.

Conquest Class Starting Bonuses:
Conquest class players will begin the game with following unit and game feature bonuses:

• Bonus Unit: You start with an extra Settler, 2 Spearmen and a Curragh
• Bonus Tech: Your people also know The Wheel
• Bonus Treasury: You start with 100 Gold.
• Bonus Luxury: A bonus luxury resource will be located on your starting landmass.

Click on the image below to download the Conquest-class start save file.

Open Class Game Details for Conquest 43

Players who choose to play in the Open Class game receive no bonuses compared to a game that would be normally be played on Monarch level.

For the purposes of global ranking and comparison to all other GOTM scores, Open class game scores will be ranked according to the Jason score which balances speed and scoring skills for a combined "Best Overall game" rating.

Open Class Starting Bonuses:

• Bonus units: You start with the extra Settler and 2 Spearmen

Click on the image below to download the Open-Class start save file.

Predator Class Game Details for Conquest 43

Players who choose to play in the Predator class game must overcome an extra set of obstacles built into their game to provide an extra level of challenge. The intent of these changes is to raise the difficulty without altering strategic play progress from that which you would see for comparison in the conquest class and open class games.

Players who might be interested in playing the Predator class game could be those players who have participated in the Elite or Leader divisions of the Medal Play Series or players who just want an extra level of excitement or challenge.

For the purposes of global ranking and comparison to all other GOTM scores, the Predator class game scores in the QSC and GOTM results do not receive any compensating scoring bonus for the added elements of challenge.

Predator Class Equalizing Obstacles:
The game features for Predator Class Games have been raised to provide the following obstacles:

• None

Click on the image below to download the Predator-Class start save file.